EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ women's basketball team came up on the short end of an NJAC barn-burner with visiting New Jersey City on Saturday, ultimately falling by a 69-62 count in a game that went down to the final minute.
 
Izzy Leazier led TCNJ (3-4, 1-2) with 19 points but the Lions were unable to slow down All-American guard Damaris Rodriguez, who scored a game-high 28 points to push the Gothic Knights (4-2, 3-0) over the top.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Lions dominated the first quarter, holding NJCU to a frigid 2-of-18 from the field (11.1 percent) while getting out in transition (6 fast-break points) to open up a sizeable early advantage
• Early 3-pointers from Isabella Cafaro and Katie Fricker gave TCNJ a 6-0 lead before Rodriguez got the Gothic Knights on the board with a step-back jumper, but that was one of just two field goals for the green and gold in the period
• Leading 8-5 at the midway point of the period, Fricker's bucket off a look-ahead feed from Grace Kowalski started an 11-0 run that lasted the rest of the quarter and into the second. Branchizio's pull-up made it 16-5 at the end of the opening frame, and her 3-pointer to open the second stretched the lead out to 19-5
• That's when Rodriguez took over, splashing a 3-pointer to start a sizzling stanza in which she made 8-of-9 from the field and scored 16 points, pushing the Gothic Knights back into contention
• NJCU pulled even for the first time since the opening tip (30-30) on Rodriguez' baseline jumper with 2:55 to go in the half, and took a pair of leads (34-32 and 36-34) before TCNJ regained the upper hand when Cafaro grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw and beat the buzzer with the put-back to send the Lions into the locker room up 37-36
• TCNJ came out of the locker room cold, needing more than five minutes to get on the board, but the defense was enough to keep the hosts within arm's length and to eventually pull into a 42-all tie on Leazier's inside bucket
• NJCU scored the next six points, however, and upped the lead to eight (60-52) with 4:42 to go, but TCNJ refused to back down and got within 61-60 on Leazier's catch-and-shoot triple with 1:20 remaining. Rodriguez, however, found Tahirah Kelly with a wrap-around pass for a basket on the other end and Leazier misfired on a triple after dropping her defender with an ankle-breaking move.
• The Lions made it 64-62 on Cafaro's basket out of a timeout with 41 seconds to go, but Rodriguez dribbled out most of the shot clock and buried a right-wing triple to ice it with 15.0 ticks showing

FOR THE FOES

• Rodriguez wound up with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting, also handing put six assists to just one turnover
• Dayjah Anderson chipped in 13 points
• Thanks to Rodriguez, the Gothic Knights shot 68.4 percent in the second quarter (13-for-19) after their ice-cold opening act
• NJCU only committed five turnovers – one in the first half – and forced 15 on the other end, cashing in a 17-5 edge in points off miscues

STANDOUT LIONS

• Leazier led the Lions with 19 points along with six assists and five rebounds
• Fricker (8P/6R), Cafaro (8P/5R), and Branchizio (8P/4R) each scored eight, and Setaro finished with seven
• Arianna McCleod scored six points on a pair of 3-pointers
• Natalie Kolb had four points and five rebounds but made several big plays down the stretch, grabbing an offensive rebound and firing out to Leazier for a 3 to trim NJCU's lead to 60-55 and bouncing in a short jumper to make it 60-57

NOTES

• Saturday's game continued a string of tight finishes between the teams, with each of the last seven matchups decided by single digits
• Setaro was recognized pregame for reaching 1,000 career points at TCNJ in Wednesday's game at Rowan

UP NEXT

• TCNJ heads to Kean next Wednesday